Ticker: Hampton Roads

April 22, 2001|By Daily Press

SHIPYARD LEAK A small amount of radioactive wastewater leaked from a pipe Thursday at Newport News Shipbuilding. "during a routine transfer between facilities ... a small amount of water containing radioactivity ended up on the ground," spokeswoman Jerri Fuller Dickseski said. "The amount of radioactivity released on the ground is less than the amount of radioactivity contained in a common household smoke detector." The water came from a radioactive storage tank that the yard was cleaning for inspection, Dickseski said. The water was being moved for processing. the company expects that less than five gallons were spilled.

KMART PLANS The Cordish Co., the Baltimore-based developer of the Hampton Power Plant, is in negotiations with Kmart to build a Super Kmart on 13.5 acres of the Hampton site, said Reed Cordish, vice president of the Cordish Co. the company wants to build a 180,000- square-foot super center at the Power Plant, although the exact location of the super Kmart has not yet been determined by engineers, Cordish said. Kmart officials were not available to comment.

NO BIG DEAL Investors and analysts barely flinched after hearing that Smithfield Foods will spend an undisclosed amount to buy a beef-processing company and plans to make two more acquisitions within two months. George Shipp, a senior vice president in the Virginia Beach office of Scott and Stringfellow Inc., said investors continue to be comfortable with Smithfield's growth. Smithfield announced late Tuesday that it had agreed to purchase Souderton, Pa.-based Moyer Packing, the world's ninth-largest beef packer. The Moyer deal is typical of the company's previous acquisitions in terms of size, according to Shipp. It's far smaller than a company the size of IBP Inc., the world's largest beef packer that Smithfield sought to buy last year.

UNSAFE TRUCKS Every day, hundreds -- maybe up to 1,000 -- cargo trucks leave the Hampton Roads Port terminals with possible safety problems that could cause accidents or serious injuries on roads, according to port business executives. The trailer part, or chassis, of the cargo-truck combination is not being inspected as federal law mandates, the executives say. Some truckers display inspection stickers even though their chassis have not been inspected, allowing them to take chassis that could be unsafe out of the port gates, said Shirley Roebuck, president of Gilco Properties, which controls some of the trucking operations moving marine cargo. Roebuck said chassis inspectors, trailer vendors and others in the industry are providing the stickers to truckers.